NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — New data from the U.S. Department of Justice shows Tennessee now has the fourth highest increase in incarcerations in the nation.
This comes as a surprise to many because these incarceration numbers come after years of steady declines in the state. The increase comes as the country sees steep drops in more serious crimes.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation reported incidents of murder, rape and kidnapping decreased by double digits last year. They report murder rates in the state are down almost 15%, rape down almost 11% and kidnapping down 12%. Crimes against property were up 3%.
By the end of 2022, there were 23,735 state inmates in Tennessee and that does not include people in county jails.
The U.S. Department of Justice says the state added about 1,615 more men and 125 women to its roster of state prisoners that year. That's a nearly 8% increase, which is a rate of incarceration that surpassed all but three other states in the country: Montana, Mississippi and Colorado.
These numbers raise questions of what's contributing to the huge growth in Tennessee's prison population.
A total of 1.2 million people were held in state or federal prisons across the United States at year-end in 2022, about 25,100 more than at year-end in 2020 ending 8 consecutive years of declines.
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Fostering Hope provides Christmas for kids in foster care. I'm delighted to see Fostering Hope expand this year to expand their reach to now include kids in Foster care in metro AND foster kids in East TN hard hit by Helene.
-Bree Smith
